Despite several high-profile collisions between moose and automobiles over the past week – three on Tuesday alone – the number of such accidents has dropped significantly in Maine over the past several years, state officials say.

The state averaged about 674 collisions annually from 1995 through 2007, with a high of 858 in 1998, according to figures from the Maine Department of Transportation. But from 2008 through 2013, the yearly average was about 443.

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State Trooper Dennis Quint was injured when his cruiser struck a moose Tuesday night along Route 1 in Cyr Plantation while he was responding to another moose-vehicle collision.
Maine State Police photo

Last year, there were 385 moose-vehicle collisions and no fatalities, and there have been only 113 collisions through July 9 this year, with one fatality that occurred this week.

Sidney Oakes, 60, of Brewer was killed early Tuesday morning when his Dodge Grand Caravan struck a moose on Interstate 95 near Howland. That night, state Trooper Dennis Quint was injured when his cruiser struck a moose along Route 1 in Cyr Plantation while he was responding to another moose-vehicle collision in that town, also on Route 1. The earlier accident sent driver Melissa Martin and passenger Darlene Dias, both of Van Buren, to the hospital.

Last week, witnesses to another moose-vehicle collision in Monson say the driver, David Richards of Skowhegan, was lucky to survive.

Tow truck owner Fred Annance and his wife, Janet, were called to tow Richards’ vehicle July 3 after it struck a moose along Route 15 in an area where many such collisions have occurred.

Annance, who has run Moosehead Towing in Greenville Junction for 35 years, said he is called to more than a dozen moose-vehicle collisions each year. He said he was dumbfounded that Richards walked away from the accident, given the amount of damage to his vehicle. Typically, Annance said, drivers who have a moose land on their vehicle don’t survive.

“There were 4-foot-long skid marks, and the moose was on its back. The lady who made the call to police said it was still thrashing around. That poor man was just sitting there under it,” Annance said.

Normally, more moose-vehicle collisions occur in May and June than in other months as the animals roam for food after winter ends.

“Juvenile moose are moving and dispersing from mom’s home range in the spring,” said state moose biologist Lee Kantar. “They’re dazed and confused, looking for food. That could be delayed this year because it’s greening up later” after an unusually long winter.

Up to 80 percent of moose-vehicle accidents in Maine occur between dusk and dawn, according to the Maine DOT. Much has been done in the past several years to improve safety, said Duane Brunell, safety officer with the department.

Public outreach and “moose-crossing” signs placed in areas where there are frequent collisions have helped, Brunell said. Last summer, the department also installed reflectors that help reveal a moose’s profile along a stretch of road between Caribou and Fort Kent where moose are often struck by vehicles.

“I think it’s a combination of things that has helped. There is more public awareness and some engineering methods, as well as state biologists’ efforts to manage the moose population,” Brunell said.

Kantar said there has been an aggressive effort to reduce the number of moose in areas of Aroostook County where there have been a lot of collisions. In the past 10 years, the state has issued more hunting permits for antlerless – female – moose to drive down birth rates and reduce moose densities. There also has been a controlled moose hunt in broccoli fields in Aroostook County over the past several years.

As a result, the population density of moose in the northeast corner of the state has decreased from five moose per square mile five years ago to two to three moose per square mile today, Kantar said.

“We’ve worked over the years at reducing the number of moose to a lower level more in line with what the public wants (in that region). We’ve largely succeeded with that,” he said.

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